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Easter eggs as a Game Design Practice: an easter egg taxonomy Name: Thomas van Manen Course: Gamestudies Instructors: D. Nieborg Assignment: Paper Date: July 8th 2011 Words: 2892

Easter eggs as a Game Design Practice: an easter egg taxonomy

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Page 1: Easter eggs as a Game Design Practice: an easter egg taxonomy

Easter eggs as a Game Design Practice: an easter egg taxonomy

Name: Thomas van Manen

Course: Gamestudies

Instructors: D. Nieborg

Assignment: Paper

Date: July 8th 2011

Words: 2892

Page 2: Easter eggs as a Game Design Practice: an easter egg taxonomy

Easter eggs as a Game Design Practice: an easter egg taxonomy Introduction “It is an easter egg”, the Atari executive said when a twelve year old boy from Utah found a secret message in the game Adventure (Atari, 1979).The game’s creator Warren Robinett felt like Atari was not giving him enough credits for his work, so he programmed a hidden room into the game that contained the message ‘Created by Warren Robinett’. Robinett is now commonly known as the creator of the first easter egg. However, I feel obligated to mention that there has been some controversy whether this is in fact the first known easter egg. Before Atari’s Video Entertainment System was released, the Fairchild Channel F made by Fairchild Semiconductor allegedly also had easter eggs. It is strongly argued by some on forums and message boards that the games Video Whiz Ball and Alien Invasion (both Fairchild, 1976) contained easter eggs that also referred to the creator of the game by showing the name of the programmer after pushing some buttons in a specific order1.

In order to start this article off on the right foot the first order of business is to establish a working definition. After a definition has been provided this paper will trace the phenomenon of easter eggs in videogames as a game design practice. I will argue that this practice occurs on three different levels: designer-user interactivity, spatial exploration and on a level of commercial purposes. Along with this theoretical exploration of easter eggs as a game design practice this paper will propose an easter eggs taxonomy. As a backbone to this taxonomy I will use exemplary easter eggs found through qualitative research on the extensive crowdsourced archive at www.eeggs.com2. This paper uses handpicked examples from this archive to illustrate the provided categorization and eventually propose an easter eggs taxonomy that can be used as a ordered classification for future reference in the field of game studies.

Defining easter eggs In their extensive work on game design fundamentals gamedesigners Katie Salen en Eric Zimmerman describe easter eggs as secrets hidden in a game that players can discover (Salen & Zimmerman, 266). This broad definition

1 See for instance this 2004 thread on the Atari age forum called ‘The Very First Easter Egg (was not Adventure)’ < http://www.atariage.com/forums/topic/59087-the-very-first-easter-egg-was-not-adventure/> 2 This website is the biggest easter egg archive and the video game easter eggs section contains over 4200 found eggs.

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leaves questions such as ‘What kind of secrets?’ and ‘Who is hiding them?’ unanswered. Drawing on an article by Henry Jenkins en Kurt Squire on spatial exploration in his comprehensive work on game studies Finnish Professor of Hypermedia Frans Mäyrä defines easter eggs as ‘hidden treasures and secret areas not initially obvious to casual players’ (Mäyrä, 102). Although this is already more suitable, again it leaves questions such as ‘What are considered treasures?’ and ‘Who is hiding them?’ open. In his historic exploration of video games Mark Wolf, a communication professor whose focus is on games, definition is adding a notion of how these eggs are found. He writes that easter eggs are ‘undocumented and hidden features in a video game that a player can find, often by accident’ (Wolf, 312). Wolf is addressing the discovery of these eggs (being unintentional). I disagree with him on this because large online communities are dedicated to finding eggs in games and sharing their location. So most gamers find eggs after they read about it online, not accidentally bumping in to them, but tracing them down.

This paper draws on the definition of easter eggs provided by Ian Bogost, Associate Professor of Communication and Culture at Georgia Tech and game publisher, and Nick Montfort, Assistant Professor of Digital Media at MIT, in their book Racing the beam. They write: ‘An easter egg is a message, trick or unusual behavior hidden inside a computer program by its creator’ (59). This definition specifies eggs as being messages, tricks or unusual behavior not connecting easter eggs to a specific nature and also emphasizing an important part of easter eggs: they are created by the programmer of the game.

Easter eggs started out as a way for programmers to leave a ‘signature’ on their creation. As is well argued by Mia Consalvo, currently holding a position as visiting Associate Professor in the Comparative Media Studies program at MIT, in her book on cheating in videogames both players and the industry made it a common game design practice. Players took the challenge in finding these easter eggs and took pleasure in being the first to discover them and sharing secrets among other gamers. This caused the industry to encourage programmers to include such secrets because it could drive the popularity, playtime and maybe even sales figures of a game (Consalvo, 19-20).

So far I have established a guiding definition of easter eggs and introduced a brief notion on how they became a common game design practice. The latter notion will now be further examined.

Easter eggs as a game design practice: towards a taxonomy As argued by Mia Consalvo both gamers and the industry made easter eggs a common game designers practice. As I will argue in the forthcoming creating easter eggs can be perceived as a design practice on three different levels: designer-user interactivity, spatial exploration and on a level of commercial purposes. Alongside this exploration of design levels a taxonomy will be presented that includes footnotes with direct links to the provided examples.

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Interactivity between designer and user In videogames interaction takes place on different levels from formal interaction of game objects, to social interaction of players, to cultural interaction on a game with contexts beyond its space of play (Salen & Zimmerman, 56-57). Easter eggs, but also cheats and codes, can be perceived as interaction between developers and players. This is not specific to games but can be found in all software and a game is, at its heart, a product of software code3 (Mäyrä, 70). In this more general approach to games as software this interactivity between developers and users (the hiding and finding of easter eggs) can be perceived as a playful hide-and-seek game that exists between developers and users, which is often used to explore all the functions of a software environment (Schaefer, 122). I would also like to add a small side note here that not directly involves interactivity, but does appeal to why a designer would create an easter egg in his work. Software is often impersonal. Easter eggs can be perceived as a human touch within a technological artefact; reconnecting it to the creator (and not so much its publisher) and the craft practice of authorship (Wolf, 25). The case of the easter egg in Atari’s Adventure suits this notion.

I propose that we think of these eggs as Signature eggs. These easter eggs appeal to the original tradition of easter eggs that are programmed in games by their designers who feel like they did not get enough recognition for their work. A lack of designer’s recognition is not necessarily a term for this category. In general these eggs refer to the games creator without a specific motivation. Other examples of signature eggs can for instance be found in DOOM 2 (ID Software, 1994) where the head of John Romero, cofounder of ID software, becomes the head of the final boss of the game after typing ‘idclip’ or in the game Saints Row 2 (Volition Inc., 2008) where all tombstones in a graveyard contain names of Volition developers45.

Spatial exploration This level is somewhat connected to the previous one as they both consider exploration of a software environment. The difference is situated in the distinction between exploration as a form of interactivity and exploration as a part of gameplay. As more and more programmers started programming easter eggs into their games, the hunt for secrets in games became a new form of gameplay (Consalvo, 17). As argued by Geoff King and Tanya Krzywinska, while researching the characteristics of gameplay and its relationship with narrative, genre, virtual landscapes and realism, exploration is an important dimension of play, whether employed in relation to other objectives or as a source of pleasure in its own right (King & Krzywinska, 2003). We can directly connect this to the practice of effective game design that can yield spaces that encourage exploration (Jenkins & Squire, 10-11).

3 Other examples of easter eggs in software can for instance be found in Windows software (The pinball machine in Word’97 and a flight simulator in Excel’2000) and in Photoshop (artist splash screen) 4 ‘Programmers’ head on a stick’ < http://www.eeggs.com/items/104.html> 5 ‘Volition Developers’ < http://www.eeggs.com/items/56009.html>

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So easter eggs function as a specific goal as well as an encouragement for gamers to engage in spatial exploration. Easter eggs therefore add to playing a game not to win or complete an objective, but rather to explore the game’s world and the ways in which the game functions’ (Wolf, 25).

This paper presents these easer eggs either as decorative eggs or reference eggs. Decorative easter eggs do not have a specific purpose or motivation and do nothing to gain advantage in gameplay. Often they are graphical elements put there by designers to put a smile on the face of gamers or show some nifty programming skills. Exemplary for this category is the ‘bike-egg’ in Crazy Taxi (SEGA, 1999) that enable users to use a rickshaw-like bicycle for moving around, the ‘UFO-egg’ in Final Fantasy 8 (Square, 1999) where you have to find a monster in a specific area to battle only to find a UFO fly off carrying a cow and the ‘beating heart of the city-egg’ in Grand Theft Auto 4 (GTA4 ) (Rockstar Games, 2008) where you can find a giant human heart beating in the Statue of Liberty678.

Reference eggs on the other hand are easter eggs that make references to companies and products, other games and popular culture. I will provide examples of each. References to a company and a product can be found in GTA4. In the TW@ internet cafés all computers are from a brand called Fruit, which of course refers to Apple, and contain a browser that is similar to Apple’s Safari and even shows a product page for the iFruit. A reference to a game is found in Zelda: Majora’s Mask (Nintendo, 2000) where Link has to find four masks. On closer inspection the masks are actually based on the Star Fox (Nintendo, 1993) characters. This is not a coincidence; both games share the same creator. Most reference eggs refer to popular culture such as the egg in Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater (Konami, 2004) where Solid Snake debates with his captain on whether James Bond is a good spy or in Black and White (Lionhead Studios, 2001) where if you kill one of the singers you come across at some point, another singer shouts "Oh my God! They killed Kenneth!” referring to the Southpark series9101112. The difference between these categories is that decorative eggs appeal to programmers ‘showing off’ and reference eggs appeal to ‘referring to’. Commercial purposes For years easter eggs have also been a game design practice with significant commercial purposes as Mia Consalvo argues in her book Cheating: gaining advantage in videogames. She argues that easter eggs, cheats and strategy guides created and maintained a market for publications to disclose these kinds of information as addition to the existing game industry. These magazines eventually became an important and integral part of the game

6 ‘Crazy Codes’ <http://www.eeggs.com/items/8830.html> 7 ‘Alien Abduction’ <http://www.eeggs.com/items/10625.html> 8 ‘Beating heart of Liberty City’ <http://www.eeggs.com/items/52766.html> 9 ‘Fake Apple’ <http://www.eeggs.com/items/52818.html> 10 ‘StarFox Line-up’ < http://www.eeggs.com/items/54493.html> 11 ‘Snake vs. James Bond < http://www.eeggs.com/items/45020.html> 12 ‘Southpark Parody <http://www.eeggs.com/items/25595.html>

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industry marketing (Carlson 2009, Nieborg & Sivhonen 2009). An example of the value of these magazines is that they produced demographic niches for easy product promotion by the game industry (Consalvo 20-22).

The previous described notion of spatial exploration also appeals to a commercial purpose. Searching for easter eggs and other secret elements increases the amount of time one spends on a game. It also adds to replayability of a game (e.g. Consalvo 2007, Wolf 2008). This is interesting to game publishers because the more time gamers spent on a game, the more likely it is they become more engaged with the franchise.

Observing marketing and branding discourse we can see other reasons for game publishers to stimulate game designers to create easter eggs. Online communities are dedicated to finding all the secrets in a specific game and engage in what philosopher Pierre Lévy describes as a knowledge culture; a community around the sharing and evaluation of knowledge (Lévy, 20). Knowledge in this case points to information about in-game secrets. The practice of knowledge culture is tightly related to what media scholar Henry Jenkins describes as fan culture, a culture produced by amateurs that draws much from its content from commercial culture (Jenkins, 285). In both concepts ‘amateurs’ engage in digging up and sharing knowledge about an object of fandom (in this case a game, a developer, a franchise). I argue that both concepts nowadays function almost entirely inside a commodity culture. To point towards marketing discourse these amateurs or fans act inside what marketeers would call a brand community where social groups, that share common bands with particular brands or products, exchange knowledge and experience (Muniz & O’Guinn, 2001). These communities are (1) used for targeting specific advertisements, (2) are contributing to online buzz of a game or franchise and (3) feel dedicated to a brand of product what could increase the chance of them spending more time or/and money on these brands or products. All three presented easter egg categories seem to connect to this level, because all categories appeal to the feeling of collective discovery and sharing valuable information within communities.

Finally this paper would like to propose one more easter egg category that does not seem to fit well within the presented levels of game design. This last category is a tricky one and is best described with the term Expression eggs. These eggs refer to hidden messages in games that contain political statements or perspectives. Although not very common, some games do contain a strong political message. My argument for including this category is that with the game industry still growing and games being almost omnipresent, the agency of games narratives increases. Examples can be found in such games as Simcopter (Maxis, 1996) and Zoo Tycoon (Blue Fang Games, 2001). In Simcopter programmer Jacques Servin included ‘muscular bikini-clad men’. This egg showed up to 300 men in bikini kissing and dancing on rooftops and makes a statement about the lack of gay images in games13. In Zoo Tycoon you could rename a maintenance worker ‘George W’. After the game reloaded all foliage in the zoo disappeared, this statement was aimed at

13 ‘Dancing Bathing Suits’ < http://www.eeggs.com/items/351.html>

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the Bush’ administrations environmental politics14. It is also argued by many that game series such as Bioschock (2K Games), Grand Theft Auto (Rockstar Games) and Metal Gear Solid (Konami) continuously make political statements about topics like the environment, warfare, capitalism and nuclear power. I do agree these series have the characters and the narrative, the symbolism and the metaphors to do so, however, these messages are not hidden but are part of the game’s narrative. I therefore did not include them in this category. Connections and a new definition

This taxonomy classifies four types of easter eggs; signature eggs, decorative eggs, reference eggs and expression eggs. It is important to keep in mind that the boundaries between these categories are never as discrete as listing them might imply. All categories are somewhat connected to spatial exploration appealing to the idea of ‘Gotta catch them all’. This is closely related to the notion of collective discovery within online communities serving commercial purposes. As I have argued their distinctions lie within the nature of the egg. One could also argue that because they all are linked to spatial exploration, they all appeal to what has been described as replayability, putting forward commercial arguments for integrating easter eggs in game design. Expression eggs seem to appeal the least to commercial purposes because it could be argued that expression eggs might decrease commercial potential because a political statement might offend potential buyers.

Based on this taxonomy and reviewing Bogost and Montfort’s definition once more, I would like to propose a new definition of easter eggs: an easter egg is a personal message, an unusual software code or cultural artifact reference hidden inside a videogame by its creator. In this definition personal message refers to the signature and expression eggs, unusual software code refers to the decorative eggs and finally cultural artifacts refer to reference eggs. This definition maintains the same qualities (no specific nature and provided by a game’s creator) the earlier definition did, but is more specified towards videogames and adds more insights on the nature of easter eggs based on the presented taxonomy.

Conclusion In this paper I have traced the phenomenon of easter eggs in videogames as a game design practice. Based on a theoretical exploration I have presented three levels on which easter eggs as a designer practice occur. On a level of designer-user interactivity developers and users engage in a hide and seek game to explore all the functions of a software environment, on a level of spatial exploration as a part of gameplay and on a commercial level where easter eggs function as a central topic for online (brand) communities. Alongside this exploration this paper presented an easter egg taxonomy according to which theoretical discussions can be focused and further research conducted. This taxonomy presents four categories; Signature eggs, 14 ‘Political Joke’ < http://www.eeggs.com/items/42364.html>

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Decorative eggs, Reference eggs and Expression eggs. All presented categories are somewhat interconnected to the notion of spatial exploration and indirectly to commercial purposes. As this paper has argued their distinction lies within their nature. Finally this paper presented a new definition of easter eggs specifically for videogames maintaining the same qualities earlier definitions did.

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Literature Carlson, R. (2009). ‘Too Human versus the enthusiast press: Video Game Journalists as Mediators of Commodity Value.’ Transformative Works and Cultures 2(1). 1-14. Consalvo, Mia. Cheating: gaining advantage in videogames. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2007. Jenkins, Henry. Convergence culture: where old and new media collide. New York: New York University Press, 2006. Jenkins, Henry and Kurt Squire (2002). ‘The Art of Contested Spaces’. In: Lucien King (ed) Game On: The History and Culture of Videogames. London: Laurence King, pp. 64–75. King, Geoff, and Tanya Krzywinska. Gamescapes: exploration and virtual presence in game-worlds. Utrecht: Utrecht University Press, 2003. Print. Lévy, Pierre. Collective intelligence: mankind's emerging world in cyberspace. New York: Plenum Trade, 1997. Mäyrä, Frans. An introduction to games studies games in culture. London: Sage, 2008. Montfort, Nick, and Ian Bogost. Racing the beam: the Atari Video computer system. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2009. Print. Muniz Albert M. Jr. and Thomas C. O’Guinn (2001). ‘Brand Community’. Journal of Consumer Research, 27. 412-32. Nieborg, D. B. and. Tanja Sihvonen (2009). ‘The new gatekeepers? On the occupational ideology of game journalism’. DiGRA 2009 - Breaking New Ground: Innovation in Games, Play, Practice and Theory. Brunel University, West London. 1-9. Salen, Katie, and Eric Zimmerman. The game design reader: a Rules of play anthology. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2006. Schafer, Mirko T. Bastard culture! User participation and the extension of cultural industries. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2010. "Video Game Easter Eggs - Eeggs.com." Easter Eggs - Eeggs.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 June 2011. <http://www.eeggs.com/tree/563.html>. Wolf, Mark J. P. The video game explosion: a history from PONG to Playstation and beyond. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 2008.